Speedy

Structured to Deliver. Speedy Response to Heathrow Plane Crash.

On January 17, 2008, British Airways flight BA038 crash-landed short of the south runway at Heathrow Airport, having only just cleared the perimeter fence. There were 136 passengers and 16 crew aboard the Boeing 777, which had flown to London from Beijing.

The Challenge

Once those on board had been evacuated, the emergency services began the task of making the site safe and removing the damaged plane from the runway, where it had skidded to a halt. The clean-up operation was a round-the-clock task that continued through the night. Safely moving the jet and clearing debris required effective flood-lighting to be quickly deployed in order to minimise further disruption. Civil engineering and building group, Dyer and Butler, handles civil maintenance at the airport for BAA. The company facilitated the clean-up operation after the incident.

The Solution

To assist the emergency services and the recovery team, Speedy's Hatton Cross depot provided six nine-metre tall hydraulic lighting towers within two hours of being contacted. Mick McCorriston, manager of the depot, said: "The towers were out on the runway and ready for use in less than two hours. "Mobile lighting towers are essential in this situation, as they're simple to put up and take down and are easily towed from location to location. This allowed them to follow the plane as it was painstakingly moved from the runway to a hangar. Tom Quigley, maintenance supervisor at Dyer & Butler said: "We work regularly with Speedy, as we have several large pieces of equipment essential to our on-going maintenance work at the airport on long-term hire. We always receive a highly professional and reliable service, and their performance on the day of the crash was no different."

Speedy operates a 24-hour disaster care service including an emergency hotline and a delivery service.